(Cologne) February 1st - Europe’s largest Dota 2 festival moves to a new location in Germany, for the eighth installment of the tournament organized by the world's largest esports company, ESL. With its 16,000 seats and world class infrastructure designed to host large scale entertainment and sporting events, the Barclaycard Arena is a fitting new home for ESL One Hamburg 2017. The world’s top eight teams will battle it out for the $250,000 prize pool on October 28-29, 2017.

Since the first event in June 2014, ESL One competitions for Dota 2 attracted over 100,000 visitors to iconic venues in Europe, North America, and Asia, with 30 million unique online viewers consuming close to 30 million hours of content. With ESL One Genting and ESL One Hamburg in the pipeline, the tournament series will have awarded over $2,000,000 in prizing paid out by the end of 2017.

“Having ESL One in Frankfurt for three consecutive years was a tremendous learning experience that showed us how much the Dota 2 community cares about the competitive scene and everything around it,” said Ulrich Schulze, Vice President Pro Gaming at ESL. “We’re confident that with the new location and a better date ESL One Hamburg will once again play host to the world class Dota 2 competition that ESL One is known for.”

ESL One Hamburg will continue the legacy established by three previous editions of the event held in Frankfurt, where the main competition was surrounded by a festival celebrating Dota 2 through side activities for on-site visitors. Barclaycard Arena, with its closed roof and surrounding grounds, makes for an improved location for the festival. Fans can participate in an array of activities, including ESL One’s famous Dota 2 cosplay competition and opportunities to interact with teams taking part in the tournament.

Tickets for ESL One Hamburg 2017 will go on pre-sale early next week and will be available via Eventim. Just like ESL One Frankfurt, fans will have the choice between Weekend (€35), Weekend Plus (€85), Premium (€229) and “Aegis Experience” tickets (€2.999 for 5 people), the details of which will be announced upon the start of ticket sales. Until then, be sure to follow ESL One Dota 2 on both Twitter and Facebook to receive the latest updates regarding ESL One Hamburg. Head to the official event website for qualifiers and event information. Also, be sure to watch our ESL One Hamburg announcement trailer for a first look at what ESL One Hamburg 2017 is all about.